


R is for Recalibration

by sg_wonderland



Series: Square One [1]
Category: Stargate SG-1
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-05-07
Updated: 2013-05-07
Packaged: 2017-12-10 16:30:57
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 484
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/788114
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/sg_wonderland/pseuds/sg_wonderland
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Clone Jack back in high school.</p>
            </blockquote>





	R is for Recalibration

**Author's Note:**

> Written for the SGC Alphabet Soup

“Mr. O’Neill, a word, please.” 

The voice stopped him just short of the door. He turned reluctantly. “The bus…”

“You drive to school, young man. I just need a moment of your time.”

Jack slouched his way back into the room. “Ms. Oliver…”

“Have a seat, the faster we get through this, the faster you can escape.” Jessie Oliver boosted herself up on her desk, swinging her sneakers, waiting patiently for her student to sit. Well, really, it was more like a sprawl. “Mr. O’Neill, why are you here?”

“Here?” He asked. “I’m here because you dragged me back in here.”

“No, here as in here in high school.”

“Because the law says I have to be here.” He snapped.

“You’re an emancipated minor. If you wanted, you could take the High School Equivalency test today and walk out the door.” She crossed her arms and stared him down. “So, you’re here because you choose to be. Why?”

“Because I have to get into the Academy!” Jack blurted out.

Now, we’re getting somewhere, she thought. “You want to go to the Air Force Academy.”

“I am going to the Academy,” he corrected her forcefully, his eyes daring her to contradict him.

It was those eyes that had drawn Jessie to this particular student; they spoke volumes of things sixteen-year-olds shouldn’t know. She’d pulled his file because he’d intrigued her. He had no family; his emergency phone number was some general on some Air Force base who was also the recipient of his grades and progress reports. In the semester he’d been at her school, he’d joined no clubs, no sports teams and as far as she could tell, had made no friends. She had to assume the solitude was his choice.

“You want to be a pilot?”

“It’s all I ever wanted.”

“You know it’s a lot of hard work? Your grades have to be exemplary, attendance counts.”

“Yes, ma’am, I know what it takes. And I know it’s hard. But I’m smart and I’m motivated.” The words were said without heat, a statement of fact.

She nodded. “I can see that. I hope you make it.”

A cocky half-smile transformed his face. “I will make it, Ms. Oliver.”

“You know, we’re not the enemy, Mr. O’Neill. We’re here to help students live up to their full potential.” He glared at her silently; she stared back at him. “I don’t scare easily.”

Despite himself, humor flitted across his face. “Why not?”

“Because, Mr. O’Neill, I teach high school for a living.” She forced herself to pull back, to give the youngster the time and space to decide, to make his own choice. “You’re excused.” 

He wasted no time getting to the door, where he paused. “Ms. Oliver?”

“Yes?”

“Thanks.” He disappeared down the hall, sprinting for the parking lot and freedom. 

Jessie watched his truck pull out. “I think you just might make it.”


End file.
